Big Words

So, what are we doing this summer? We're learning some big words. Like Maxillofacial Surgery and Maxillary Osteotomy.  Jon undertook this adventure to fix his bite and his teeth once and for all! After many months of braces, x-rays, impressions and models, and many classes and consultations...

(It looks like we robbed the pharmacy, but I promise, all of those were prescribed!)

...operation day arrived! The surgery was at the Richmond hospital (not super close to our house, so many thanks to my Beccas and my in-laws for taking turns watching all my kids for a full 24+ hours).

Friday, June 16

Chillin' in pre-op. Jon looks super cool in his temperature controlling surgical gown, I.V. tube, and ... hair net? I'm not totally sure what the purpose of the cap is since he was totally shaved bald anyway...

This is where I said goodbye and headed out to wait. The surgery itself was about two and a half hours.  I saw many nervous families in the O.R. waiting room and didn't want to hang around there too long, so I went out for a walk, grabbed some food, etc... so by the time I got back into the waiting room, I was only there for about 15 min. before Dr. Fallah came out to report that everything had gone as planned, and Jon was slowly coming around from the anesthesia (and yes, I did have to look up how to spell that...). 

And what was the surgical plan exactly? Well, skip ahead if you're squeamish... but here's one surgeon's description:

"The operation is all carried out from the inside of your mouth so that there are no visible scars on the skin of your face. A cut is made through the gum above your upper teeth to gain access to the jawbone. The upper jaw is then cut with a small saw to allow it to be broken in a controlled manner. It is then moved into its new position and held in place with small metal plates and screws. The gum is stitched back into place with dissolvable stitches that can take a fortnight or even longer to fall out."

Sounds fun, right? Needless to say, it was quite a relief to hear that everything had gone well. 

So once all that was done, Jon was moved to a recovery room upstairs. I caught up with him just as the nurses were finishing up getting him settled with ice packs, oxygen and humidifier mask, IV with antibiotics, saline, and morphine, sequential compression devices on his legs, heart rate monitor and blood pressure cuff. Yeah, he was pretty attached to that bed for a while. 

He also had these cool snap thing stuck all over his chest and ribs... I'm not really sure what they were for... some kind of monitoring, I'm sure, but I'd never seen the like... they reminded me of Larry's Snap Circuits Electronics set.  

I felt a little emotional coming into the recovery room, seeing Jon, who is always so capable and strong, in so much pain and hardly able to stay conscious, hardly able to talk with his teeth wired shut. With his eyes barely open, he reached for my hand and squeezed it three times-- our little code for "I Love You."  I pulled up a chair and we settled in for a long night.  

Of course, it felt like every time Jon was just getting to sleep, it would be time for more meds or vitals or vomit or something, so really there wasn't a lot of rest happening. But I did get very creative about sleeping in a folding chair.

Saturday, June 17

Early in the morning, Jon finally felt like getting up and going for a walk (a requirement for dispatch from the hospital), so he got untethered as much as he could and used the IV stand as a sort of walker. After one short lap, he was ready to lie down again and drink some broth, which he said tasted like liquid steak! ...  I guess after eating nothing for over 24 hours, vegetable broth could taste like steak...

Look at that smile! :)

By 11am Saturday, Jon met all the criteria for release from the hospital, so one at a time, all the monitors came off and we were ready to head home.  

Sunday, June 18: Happy Father's Day!

Our reclining couches have been put to good use since the surgery.  Jon was supposed to sleep with his head elevated for two weeks following the operation, so we've had slumber parties in the living room every night! 

Also, for ten days with his teeth wired shut, Jon was on a liquids only diet. My BlenTec was used many times each day, to add some variety to the steady intake of Ensure shakes. Some blended recipes were quite delicious, like Reese's peanut butter milkshakes, apple pie milkshakes, and yogurt smoothies. Some things were good, like seven-layer dip puree, broccoli cheddar soup, and mashed potato soup.  Other things were a little strange, like potato salad soup and BBQ chicken puree (SO NOT RECOMMENDED!) And still other things were downright bizzare--like the gelatinous blob that was created after putting a whole cup of noodles in the BlenTec... Also not recommended... unless you're entering a science fair. 

As an added bit of bonus fun, since all his "food" had to be slurped through his teeth, nothing could be too hot or too cold. So milkshake and soup alike were served at a sort of tepid room temperature. Try drinking something with your teeth clenched shut sometime... it's interesting. And then be grateful that you don't have to do that for ten days straight. 

Tuesday, June 20

As rest improved, so did Jon. By four days post-op, he felt well enough to sit up and strum... and hum a little through clenched teeth. 

Wednesday, June 21

First day out and about! Not even a week after surgery, Jon and I got out walking in the wetlands. 

The smile is getting better :) 

Friday, June 23: One week after surgery

Feeling good enough to play Legos with the kids... and then clean up the Legos with the kids ;)

Sunday, June 25

No pictures, but Jon was brave enough to stand and "sing" with my ward choir (remember his teeth are still wired shut) so Bro. Ross wasn't the only one in the men's section... Everyone in the ward was super impressed! 

Monday, June 26

Best. Day. Ever! The wires holding his jaw shut came off and were replaced with orthodontic rubber bands. The bands are strong and still hold the jaw still, but at least he gets to take them off to eat! 

 Ironically, at Dawna's ortho appointment the same week, she got to start wearing rubber bands too! So nice to share these experiences with daddy! And now he has an even better open-mouth smile!

Jon had a lot of interesting observations about his teeth and jaw once they were unwired. His whole eating structure had changed.  In the past, his front teeth met end to end (this is not ideal) so a lot of chewing happened in the front of his mouth instead of the back. And suddenly, he had to re-learn how to chew--because his incisors were cutting like scissors, as they should, and his back molars were grinding, as they should, but this was a new feeling for him. I got questions such as "Do you chew on both sides of your mouth or just one at a time?" and "What does your tongue do while you're chewing in the back?" Honestly, these were things I'd never thought about and I had an opportunity for introspection on my eating methods... I tend to chew on one side of my mouth at a time, and my tongue acts as a sort of blockade for either side while I chew. Take a moment to consider how you eat. It will be revealing :)

Friday, June 30
A mere fourteen days after surgery, we got out to enjoy the beach! No swimming of course, but a nice dip of the toes and jaunt up and down the shore put him in good spirits! The swelling has improved a lot, the stitches are still hanging around, but overall, this tough guy has made quick work of recovery! He's eating more and getting up and around more each day. Next week it's back to work :( I'm going to miss having my hubby around all the time, but I guess it's time to move on to our next great adventure...

 ...with a great smile! 

Birthday Boy!

Happy birthday to my dearest Jonathan! Many happy returns of the day! We enjoyed many good wishes from family and friends via text, phone calls, Instagram, and even snail mail (my mom always gets it to arrive right on time! I don't know how she does it!).

But we did have one unhappy return of the day after all the rain over the past two weeks...  

I guess our fence just couldn't take it anymore... yay for being homeowners and the surprise projects that responsibility sends your way...

Anyway... back to the fun of Jon's birthday...

We had a most delightful supper with Paul, Becca, and their kids on Sunday afternoon.  I fried up some Opal Eye that Jon caught on our dive trip last October; we baked some butternut squash from Norm Prince's garden; and Becca brought some fresh sour dough bread from her own starter! We felt all rustic having hunted and gathered most of our meal!

Still, we couldn't resist raising our glasses of store-bought sparkling cider in celebration of this strapping young man! Jon, you've been by my side for more than half my lifetime. I can't even begin to express the depth of my love and appreciation for all you've given me, all you've taught me, and all we've experienced together. Your energy and enthusiasm for life is a blessing to everyone who has the pleasure of knowing you!

Last but not least... Jade helped end the day on an adorable and relaxing note... her renditions of the "Squids will be Squids" tales.

Happy Birthday!

Shelter

A big rainstorm was coming through this weekend!

So, naturally, we slept outside :) 

Dry, cozy, and toasty warm all night while raindrop lullabies pitter patted me to sleep. Oh! And there were lots of awesome frogs sounds, too! Now we know we're ready for wet winter camping adventures!

The Handy Man Can

From down the hall, I heard a thwick, flump thump.  Oh dear. Upon entering my closet, I found that the hanging racks had suddenly decided to quit and ripped right out of the drywall. And yes, in the exciting tradition of jobs poorly done, we find yet another example in our house with closet clothes racks installed just into drywall. Studs are overrated, apparently (although I must admit I'm a little impressed that they've lasted these 7 years...).

Anyway, lucky for me, my handy husband Jon jumped into action, watching quite a few DIY YouTube videos and scheming and planning some new, sturdier shelving for our closet.

Saturday was the big day! Off he went to the "Hard Work Store" as my kids so lovingly call it, with our dainty little Crosstrek Perry, only to realize that he needed the Big Mama mini van Eva in order to get all the large pieces of wood home. So, after a little car shifting, he and the supplies were all home and he was starting the project. But any project that requires only one trip to the hardware store is hardly worth mentioning.  Saturday's portion of the project took 3 trips, ultimately finishing off with the addition of a new member of our power tool family:

Isn't she beautiful?? (Weston will be so proud...)

Once installed, Jon demonstrated his strength and the strength of my new shelf and rack by doing several manly pull-ups on them (but sadly would not repeat the feat for my camera...but trust me, it was amazing!) I'm convinced these will NOT fall off the wall :)

And now, an ode to my Handy Man:
Who can fix my closet?
Buy a saw or two?
Happily completing yet another "honey-do":
The Handy Man...
Oh, my Handy Man Can!

Thank you, Jon! I'm so ready to move our stuff back into the closet!!!

Goodbye July Stop the Last!

We finally come to the last stop on on Goodbye July series. We ended our vacation in a most beautiful and unique place: Glacier National Park. A year or more of planning came together for this week of family fun. Our family, along with Heather and Rob and mom and dad Severson arrived a day early to Glacier River Ranch, a mystical location that apparently Google Maps could find, but Siri could not... so my siblings with iPhones had a heck of a time figuring out where we all were. Only a location beacon from mom or dad led the Reeves to the right turn... Everyone arrived eventually by Monday afternoon and we all got settled in to the cabin and guest house.  We were going to drive the Going to the Sun Road, but when we started Eva, there was a funny noise and a funny smell... not a good thing when you're on a road trip. Rob took a sniff and a glance and said he was pretty sure it was the alternator. Yippie. Then we got to play the odds of "Can the almost broken down car make it to the shop?" game. Odds were in our favor and the car made it to the shop. Great start to our last stop... After taking the car in, Rob drove us on the Going to the Sun Road. We took in the sights and found our starting place for our Heaven's Peak adventure. 

Monday night, for our opening Family Home Evening, we enjoyed "Singing with the Seversons," a name that tune game celebrating the Seasonal, Silly, Situational, Spiritual, and School Play songs that we have enjoyed over the years. At the end, Heather, Abbie, Emma, and I sang a song we wrote...well, a song we parodied... the "I Lava You" song from the Pixar short became "Memories of Love with our family..."

Tuesday was adventure in Glacier day! Our family divvied up and took the extra seats in other family's cars (remember Eva is stuck in the shop with a bad alternator...). We hiked out to Avalanche Lake, loving the scenery and enjoying playing in the water... and the mud! I had to re-create the mud club from Larry's field trip :) Even Nana joined in the fun by striping her cheek with mud from the lake! The fishermen got carried away with the beauty of the mountain lake and stream and almost missed lunch! 

    

After a lovely hike, we drove the Going to the Sun road again, all the way to the Logan Pass closure. We caravaned with the Reeves and stopped at some points of interest and learned about the road and the people who lived in Glacier during its construction. Yes, it gets chillier the farther you go up the mountain...

Tuesday night, Matt put together an evening of, you guessed it! Seversons Sing Along!  Apparently we are a singing family... shocker...One of my favorite moments of the evening was when everyone started singing the Phinneas and Ferb theme song and Nana just stared in amazement that we all knew a song she didn't :) 

ALL the little boys LOVED Uncle Rob! 

Wednesday was the day of crazy insane adventure! That was the day we hiked up Heaven's Peak. There is no trail up to Heaven's Peak. There's kind of a stream that goes some of the way up the mountain, then there's some beautiful meadows, then there's glaciers, then insane scree fields, then a looonnnggg ridge leading up and out to the peak. 

We started the day quite early with Rob, Jon, Abbie, Emma, Hannah, Dawna, Matt, Luke, and myself. Our merry party of nine parked and scurried across the river, stashed our water shoes in the bushes, and began the long journey up the mountain.  It was a beautiful piece of nature practically untouched by people. Apart from an occasional cairn by the river, there were no signs of people at all! Walking, then climbing along the river, then fighting though brush... on and on the hike went. Several times, Uncle Rob had to get out some webbing to assist us less confident climbers up over a ledge. Finally, after several hours, we got to some beautiful meadows and the hiking was much easier for a time. There were wild onions all along the river, which we enjoyed picking and munching along the way.  

Somewhere around 1pm we finally reached the glaciers that were melting, creating the mountain streams that we had followed up the mountain. The location was beyond description beautiful. Nature so pure and beautiful. Ice, rocky ridges, and pure water streams. We played in the frozen wonderland and enjoyed a little lunch there. Matt and Luke decided to turn back at that point, but Jon and Rob really wanted to push forward to try to summit. 

I was doubtful, but agreed to push forward a little longer. We reached the scree fields and tried to scramble up them. It was successful for a time, but soon, we were sliding three feet backwards for every step forwards.  Rather unsettling... We called this part "Sketchy #1," meaning that it was a little frightening and we were a little unsure that we could traverse it safely. Jon and Rob went ahead and secured a rope at the top of the scree field, then threw the rope down to us girls and we then we all made it to the base of the crevice that would lead us to our final ascent! Jon and Rob scrambled up the crevice like two lithe and limber mountain goats, but Abbie, Emma, Hannah, Dawna, and I just sat watching and shaking our heads. That was Sketchy #2. Atop the ridge, the boys found that it was quite narrow and steep and were a little nervous about bringing everyone up there. 

As we were trying to decide what to do, some large dark clouds began pouring over the edge of the peak.  No way we wanted to be out on that peak if a lightning storm was coming through. And that was Sketchy #3, at which point we called it and began heading back. 

Silly me, I thought with a 5 hour ascent to nearly the top of the mountain that going back down would certainly be faster. Little did I know the hardest part was yet to come...

The descent started off easily enough. Abbie and I hunted for white rocks and built a little temple high on the mountain top:

After passing the meadow, the slow arduous descending began. Around every edge was another waterfall and another cliff.  I kept thinking I would recognize the terrain we were passing by, but I never did. It felt like a completely different adventure on the way down. Somehow, we had to bushwhack through some pine trees, after which Rob had to straddle a waterfall to help the rest of us across. While we were still stuck in the trees, we heard Rob slip, splash, and scream. All us girls feared that we had lost Uncle Rob over the edge of the waterfall!! But then we heard him shout, "AWWGH!!! My foot is wet!" Whew. Just a wet foot, not a lost uncle. 

All us girls were at out wits ends by the time we arrived at the last waterfall, so we took a celebratory dip:

Almost there... now we just had to go through the old growth to get back across the river to the car. Unfortunately, we veered a little too far right and ran into a LOT of thorny underbrush. Yick. Just when we thought we were finished, we had one last thorny pokey push and reroute. The hike down took about 6 hours in all. We were cold, tired, hungry, and SO ready for a shower by the time we got back. But at the end of the day, I think I would like to go back someday and try again to summit. 

Thursday was rafting day! We went rafting in two sessions because of the size of our group. Jon and I and our three older kids were in the second group, so we spent the morning doing monkey fists and carving soap and soap stone. Then we had an enjoyable float down the river and it felt good on our sore muscles to jump in the cool water. By the time we floated back to the cabin, Sarah and Ben had the best dinner of the week ready for us! Roasted pork and and carrot and chick pea salad. So yum.

Friday, the group split up. Most people went into the park to explore a little more, but between my sprained ankle and extremely sore muscles, I didn't want to go anywhere. Jon headed into the park to run, I stayed and did more crafts and got to witness Dawna and Hannah each catch a fish! Lucky for us, Emily was there and cooked up the fish and we all enjoyed a couple bites apiece.   Those fish may or may not have been legal to keep. They may or may not have been a very rare species of fish protected by Montana law. Nobody can prove anything because the fish have been consumed :)

Saturday was just a day to pack and clean and say teary good-byes to our dearest uncles aunts, nieces, nephews, and cousins. And then Rob cheered us up by treating the rafters like monkey bars. Nice finishing touch. 

We drove away from Glacier River Ranch about 10am. And we drove and we drove and we drove and we drove. We kept thinking maybe we'd stop... but then we drove a little further... and then around midnight we were already in Redding, so we just finished up the drive and arrived home around 5am. We all rolled into bed and slept the day away. 

Thus ended our Goodbye July. What an adventure. Now I am completely ready to stay home, get into a routine, and never leave again. 

Until next time...

Goodbye July Stop 3

After a lovely camping trip to the Tetons, our next stop was Garden City, UT to enjoy a few days by Bear Lake!

It started a little rough... we didn't have an address for the cabin, and poor Cheryl and kids were waiting for us to arrive for several hours... but once we all got settled in, we fell in love with that cabin!

The cooks loved the kitchen:

The runners loved the local trails: 

 The kids loved the swings, the fire pit, and the amazing willow good for climbing and swinging:

And everybody loved the close proximity to Bear Lake, just out the back door and across a field!

 On arrival evening, we played family Jeopardy! We got to learn about Koberstein family history, which was fun! Then we got Weston on skype and he officially announced his engagement to Myra! YAY!!!!

 The first full day dawned cool and wet... but luckily, the plan for the day was to relax and hang around the cabin. The kids all enjoyed playing and Aunt Karla opened up her hair and nail salon!

After some lunch, we biked/drove to Jake's Shakes, which was also a fun family history sites. Mom K showed us around the little house turned shake shop and showed us where her old rocking chair and Cuckoo clock used to be... it was her grandparent's house. I thought that was super cool! And the shakes were amazing also! Famous for raspberries! yum!

We spent some time out on the lake that day, but the rain brought us in earlier than planned... but no matter... cousins + cabin + board games = fun no matter what the weather!

That evening, we had a wonderful family fireside. Each of the siblings had been assigned an ancestor from Garden City or Montpilier to research. I thought it was a great assignment! Our family got to learn about Naomi Phelps Jensen, my kid's great-great-grandmother. It was fun to remember her so close to her home!

Thursday dawned bright and beautiful and begging for adventure, of which we had plenty! 

In the morning, we biked/drove to the Garden City Cemetery, where we found grave sites for several Koberstein ancestors. In this picture, Daniel Joseph, Weston, and Joseph are all sitting by their namesake ancestor: Joseph Weston Gibbons.

On the way back to the cabin, we indulged in several rentals of watercraft! Jon and Lynn rented Ski-Doos and Grandpa rented paddleboards and kayaks for the day! It was an adventure getting from the rental marina back to the cabin's sandbar...

Dan and Wes found a groove on the paddleboards and taught us all how to stand and maneuver them. So much fun!

Everyone enjoyed the little kayaks, especially the little people, for whom the loud Ski-Doos were a bit much... It was a perfect day on the lake... until it was time to return the Ski-Doos... My adorable and adventurous (aka reckless...) husband wondered what would happen if you take the Ski-Doo at top speed (50mph) and then turn as sharp as you can... twice... Answer: severe pain in the ribs after smacking water that feels more like cement... luckily, no bones were broken, no internal bleeding, but Jon is facing a long, slow, painful recovery of severe rib bruising.

Later in the evening, we enjoyed a mission report and pictures from Grandma and Grandpa!

And the next day...checkout at 10am. Bidding a fond farewell to our seven bedroom, seven bathroom cabin! I would go back in a heartbeat! It was lovely!

View from the cabin...

...and the view from the lake.

As one last bit of awesomeness, Dan, Jon, Grandparents, and grandkids 12+ got to go to the Logan temple to do baptisms. A fitting end to our great reunion!

This little guy wanted to be an honorary Koberstein :) We said it was ok.

Goodbye July Stop 2

After an enjoyable weekend in Logan, our month away continued in Grand Tetons National Park! I'd never been in the park before, but have often seen the majestic mountains in the distance.  We met up with Gwen and Mike and kids, Mom and Dad K, Dan and Karla, and Lynn in the park.  Surprisingly, we were the first ones to arrive, even though Gwen and Mike left Logan before we did and all the rest of the crew were already in Idaho.

We all stayed in Colter Bay Village, which is where Mom and Dad worked during the summer when they were dating. Mom was a waitress and Dad was a bus boy.  It was really cute to hear them talk of the things that were the same and different and remember fun hikes and moments they shared together there.

We stayed in a tent cabin, a very interesting, but very fun structure... two log walls, then metal frame with thick canvas secured over top.

Family selfie in the tent cabin.

After arriving and setting up camp on Sunday afternoon, we walked down to the lake and threw rocks and enjoyed a picnic dinner with everyone, which was cut short by oncoming rain and lightning and thunder.

My kids aren't quite sure how to handle lightning and thunder... kinda freaks them out... can't blame them; it's not at all a common occurrence back home.

We moved our dinner into Gwen and Mike's cabin, then went on a walk after the storm died down a bit.

Happy Birthday Baby Joseph! birthday cupcakes after dinner!

Changing poopy diapers togher... true family bonding time...

Jon can't resist trying something impossible... we all pushed and shoved and heaved a large fallen log over several large boulders and into the lake! After it floated away, Jon's dad told him to retrieve it, so he did... the lake was a pleasant temperature, the night was beautiful, and it was hilarious!

Someone had to teach baby Joseph how to throw rocks... that is an untie's job :)

As we huddled in for the night, we heard the storm coming back strong...


In the morning, we awoke to a somewhat unpleasant, but somewhat funny surprise... Xochitl sat up in her sleeping bag and said, "Mom, I must have been really hot last night! My bed is ALL SWEATY!" I looked over and saw that her bed was indeed wet, but not with sweat.  She was sleeping in a HUGE puddle that had seeped in during the stormy night. I guess we're lucky that Xochitl never felt cold... Unfortunately, Dawna had set her backpack and her clothes bag on that side of the tent also, so our Monday morning was spent hanging out sleeping bags, clothes, books, and shoes to dry.

After the laundry was hung, we headed out on an adventure! The rest of the fam were sightseeing in Yellowstone for the day, so the six of us headed out to find Jenny Lake and Hidden Falls.

We went to the dock, hoping to take the ferry across the lake and then hike a short distance to Hidden Falls, but the ferry would have cost over $60 for our family, so we opted to take the long way around the lake.  It was really a beautiful hike, albeit long... the sight of the hidden falls was well worth the effort of the hike. I tried to get someone to take a good picture of our family by the falls... but unfortunately, Sarah wasn't there, so we just got mediocre pictures... all well...

As we hiked and drove back to our tent cabin, the rain began to fall again... we may have driven a little fast as we hurried to get our clothes in before they got soaked Again!  Thankfully, we were successful.  We had a great evening of listening to stories of Sacagawea, eating at Mom and Dad's old workplace, and hanging out by the campfire at our tent cabin.

Larry was having a great time making baby Joseph laugh and laugh! 

And so ended part two of our Goodbye July... but the fun is still just beginning...